I’ve been enjoying IT Conversations for some time now. It’s this great library of audio recordings (as well as some text) of speeches, interviews and commentary from the world of information technology. You can download the material individually or subscribe to podcasts, and participate in rating the various recordings.

Cool enough.

Here’s what I love about it: this is free. It’s a little like PBS, in that they do a quick pitch for their leading sponsor (Limelight Networks) at the start of each piece, but otherwise it’s just unfiltered audio feeds from a gaggle of volunteer contributors. And they’re becoming a kind of audio journal of record; if there’s an important event in the tech world, there’s at least a fighting chance that IT Conversations can take you (or at least your ears) there.

And here’s what it has me thinking: wouldn’t it be great if there was a Civic Conversations? Volunteers could attend anything from town hall meetings to political rallies to budget consultations, record them (openly and with permission) and then upload the results, tagged by issue areas, speaker names, date and location.

You and I, in the comfort of our homes and offices, could browse the results or monitor feeds that filter for our political passions and personal hobby horses. Discussion forums for each recording would let us carry on the conversation.

Anyone interested in making that happen?